The production of foie gras involves force-feeding ducks with a pipe several times a day, which causes the ducks' livers to become enlarged and diseased - a process the Humane Society of the United States calls animal cruelty and within the bounds of California lawmakers to abolish.

"The state clearly has the right to ban the sale of the products of animal cruelty," HSUS president Wayne Pacelle said in a statement, "and we expect the 9th Circuit will uphold this law, as it did in the previous round of litigation."